Foot leveler



March 2,v 1948-. c. H. STEMMONS lFOOT LEVELER Filed April 50, 1945 I I,/fA l\ INVENTOR. Vane/76e 57am/0m ATIORNEY Patented Mar. 2, 19h48 UNITEBySTATE-S'- PATENT GFF ICE EQGEBLEVEILER CIarenceHL. Stemmo'ns, KansasCty Mo.

Application April 30;. 1945-, Serial No. 5915,203-

2 Claims 1..

This invention relates to: footcomiorting ap pl-iances of. thetupen'sertable into a: shoe. for the purpose or supporting the archesV ofthe wearer,Y absorbing the shocks and jars to which the outer and inner'longitudinal arches; the. heel bone and. the fifth. metatarsal. headaresubjected. because of their peculiar weight-bearing function.

The primary aim ot the invention. is to provide an appliance of the.aforementioned character and having the abil-ity otcomforting the wearerloe-- cause of the shocks experienced incident. to walking, andc also`capable ofy preventing the elongation of. the footor' the slippingforward; of the toot in the: shoe and capable: of correcting pronationorsupinationf..

An evenA turther: aim of this invention isV to pro- Vide an i-nsertableappliance for'sh'oes,l haring. the ability of elevating the longitudinalarches of. the wearer as a shock absorbing result is obtained..

Other objects of. this invention are toA provide a foot' leveler capableof relievingshoev pressure.v and protecting the: foot from projecting,laterally and thereby extend the shoeV toy an utirlesirablev degree;capable of` adjustment. with respect to: supporting the longitudinalarches and'. having means for supplementing the metatarsa-larchsupporting pillow ot the appliance, whereby the individual user mayadjust the appliance tos sui-t.l particular conditions and toaccommodate shoes of various-makes. y

Still further aims: of this invention wi-llappear during the course ofthe following speciii'cation. referring. tothe accompanying drawing,wherein.;

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a foot leveler made in accordance withthepresent, invention.

Fig. 2 is an edge elevational View thereof. Y

Fig. 3 is an hiverted p'lanview'witlzrparts broken away and separatedfor clearness of disclosure..

Fig. 4 is a cross sectionalJ view taken on. line IV--IV of Fig. 1.

Fie. 5 is asimilar sectional View taken on line V-V of Fig. 1; and YFig'. (i is ay sectional View taken. on line. VI-VI of'FigJl.

The steps in the method of producing. aroot lever or appliance ofv thecharacter illustrated and constituting the subject matter of thisinvention, are off importance and will appear in detail after adescription of that form of the invention which has been chosen forillustration.

The appliance shown in the drawing isf one particularly formed forintroduction into the left shoe of the wearer where the arch wing I0will underlie the outer edge of the inner longitudinal arch of the foot.This wing lll is a lateral extensioni formed ort. the two superimposed.sheets' ofv exl'ble material. l2 and. it respectivelyf,A the formerbeing the uppermost. portion of the: ap-

pllanceA when it. is. in; the operative position.

Pads of. soft resilient material are interposed. between: sheets; l2 andM during the iirst step inthe method or producing the appliance. padsare disposed. along' the outer portion ofthe appliance andthereforerbelow the outer zones of.

the bottom of the foot. toestab'lish cushions, one or which isy at.l theheel, while another is. below the cuboid and 'termed tof cushionA thatmember of thefoot.

Pad orv cushion ttt is thicker along the edge thereof near the outeredges of material l2 and i4. This! padv progressively decreases` inthickness as its inner edge'` isapproached and also' tapers to afeather.edge as it nears pad i8. This latter pad' is thicker at its outer edgeand. its top suriace is arched as. clearly shown in Fig. 2t. otherwords,. pad.v la arches upwardly or inwardly and presents ai convexsurface above which the -transversely thereacrossv and continues: into ashort line of stitching terminating near pad lf3. It. is; this stitching22 and 24- that is created after the. pads have beenl cemented' inpl'acebetween sheets of material l2 and M. In actual. productioni the padsAare cemented between sheetsv l2 and i4 and thentlv sheets: and: pads`arev embossed in` apress to; snugly t sheets |22; and t4: in a directlysuperimposed relation over. the areas? thereof noti occupied. by thethree pads it, le and' 2li. The. pressure is sol applied around pad 2liasA to cause alateral. projection thereofv to each side' ci. thesuperimposed sheets. of materiali l2 and l. In other words, therer is anupwardly andv downwardl-y disposed embossment where pad 213-' ispositioned. This pad. 2l) is L-shaped and coopera-tes with. pad |18 inicreating an eiectiveV metatarsal pillow,vv the' rearwardly extended stemwhereof supports the fourth metatarsal bone and part of the fthmetatarsal bone.

After the two sheets of material l2 and I4 are Stitches. 22. passthrough material l2 and' assembled with pads I6, I8 and 20 as above setforth, an additional sheet of leather, imitation leather, or flexiblesubstance oi desirable character, is cemented to the lowermost sheet ofmaterial I4. A transverse line of stitching 27 positively anchors allsheets of material, i. e. I2, I4 and 26 together if the cementing isthought to be inadequate. This last mentioned sheet 26 is formed asillustrated in Fig. 3, and is provided with a pair of longitudinal slits28 at its forward end for the reception of a supplementary L-shaped pad39, if the wearer needs additional metatarsal support or cushioning.This pad 39 is formed of soft,

sponge rubber, and is easily slipped to place through slits 28, asclearly shown in Fig. 3. The

form of this pad 39 is agreeable to the contourV ci pad 29 and willunderlie the same for a supplemental action when in the position shownin Fig. 3.

Sheet material 26 carries a pad 32 and the adhesive 34 is so applied asto leave a pocket 39 having the mouth thereof at the edge of theappliance beneath wing I9. This pad 32 supports both the inner and outerlongitudinal arches and if insufficient in thickness, may besupplemented by the introduction into pocket 36 oi a pad 38, thecharacter whereof is illustrated in Fig. 5. Pad 32 extends transverselyand completely across the .appliance and beneath pad I8 to add furtherresiliency and height thereto. Y

Pad 38 cannot be projected into pocket 36 a distance beyond that allowedby a line established by cement 34 and, manifestly, no increase in thethickness of 4the appliance where pads I8 and 32 overlie each other,will occur.

From the above it will be apparent that pad I6 elevates the heel andthat its thickest and most resilient portion underlies the lowermostpart of the os calcis or heel bone. An effective shock absorbing actionis the result. Pad I8 underlies the cuboid and the contour of this padis such as to complement the foot beneath the cuboid to afford thegreatest amount of support with a minimum amount of shock. In fact, thispad I8 allows normal action of the bones of the foot adjacent the cuboidas a gentle supporting action occurs.

The form of pad and the advantages arising from the special contour,have been claried above, as has been the beneiits emanating from theparticular manner in which the outer sheet of material 26 is applied.The two superimposed sheets of material I2 and I4 are positively heldagainstrelative displacement due to any sliding action while material 26is so axed as to present a pocket for the reception of the pad 38 andmember 38.

The pillow-like form of pad I8 and the inclined upper face of materialI2, due to Vthe form of pad I6, assures that the foot of the wearer willnot move forwardly into the shoe to crowd the toes.

Ventilating openings 49, 42 and 44 insure proper but since theprinciples contemplated might be embodied in appliances having physicalcharacteristics different from those shown and specified, it is desiredto be limited only by the spirit of the invention and scope of theappended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new yand-desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. An appliance of the character described comprising a number of piecesof superimposed sheet material formed to iit in a shoe beneath the footof the wearer; and a heel pad, a cuboid pad and a metatarsal pillow, allformed from exible material and all disposed between certain of the saidpieces of sheet material, saidheel pad being relatively thicl: at itsouter edges and terminating at a thin edge extending diagonally acrossthe appliance, said cuboid pad having a convex upper surface andextending from the heel pad adjacent one end of said thin edge thereof,said pillow being L-shaped and having one leg thereof beneath thesecond, third and fourth metatarsal heads, and the other leg thereofbeneath the fourth metatarsal bone of the foot of the wearer, the freeend of said other leg of the pillow extending from the cuboid pad inopposed relation to said heel pad.

2. An appliance oi the character described comprising a number of piecesof superimposed sheet material formed to t in a shoe beneath the foot ofthe wearer; a heel pad, a `cuboid pad and a metatarsal pillow, allformed vfrom ileXible material and all disposed between certain of thesaid pieces of sheet material, said heel pad being relatively thick atits outer edges and terminating at a thin edge extending diagonallyacross the appliance, said cuboid pad having a convex upper surface andextending from the heel lpad adjacent one end of said thin edge thereof,said pillow being L-shaped and having one leg thereof beneath thesecond, third and fourth metatarsal heads, and the other leg thereofbeneath the fourth metatarsal bone of the foot of the wearer, the freeend of said other leg of the pillow eXtending from the cuboid pad inopposed relation to said heel pad; and lines of stitching passingthrough certain of said sheets and around each of the pads and thepillow respectively to hold the pads in place and in separateindependent relationship, said pads and the pillow having theirrespective uppermost contours pressed into the normally uppermost sheetof material to create embossments having contours equivalent to theunderlying pads and pillow.

CLARENCE H. STEMMONS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the iile ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,417,989 Gutmann May 39, 19221,797,143 Hovey Mar. 17, 1931 2,084,455 Reed June 22, 1937 2,304,384Stemmons Dec. 8, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Y Date 144,708Switzerland Apr. 1, 1931 178,367 Great Britain Apr. 20, 1922 763,489France Feb. 12, 1934

